Lips of An Angel
by ameyxo
Summary: Tifa has left Midgar when Cloud announces his engagement to Aerith. Cloud X Aerith, Tifa X Zack.
1. Tifa's gone

_Falling... Falling fast... __But why?__ Where am I? How did I get here? Where am I going to end up? Who am I?_

Tifa Lockhart woke up with a start and looked around nervously.

"Just a dream," she said softly to herself, trying to calm down.

But still, the thought of falling into a dark nothingness got to her... She looked miserably down at the picture of Cloud, Marlene, Denzel, and herself smiling happily up at her. She was still in shock as she gently climbed out of her hotel bed; she heard a load knock on her door.

She opened the door and saw a perky maid with her breakfast, "Morning Miss," she smiled cheerfully as she brought the trolley through the doorway, "You had a call for you last night, but you were sleeping, so I took a message."

Tifa nodded in a daze, not really paying attention.

"A Cloud Strife," the maid continued, "sounded quite worried, the dear, wanted to know if you were staying here, and I told him, I did, that it was information I could not give out."

Tifa's ears picked up when she heard Cloud's name "How long ago, does he know for sure if I am here?" Tifa felt her heart start to race; she didn't want to go back... not yet at least.

The maid looked curiously at her, "I told you already I did not give out information like that, and since you specially requested it, I would not have told him you were here anyways."

Tifa felt her heart calm down, "okay, thank you," she waved the maid off and sat on her bed thinking, _Cloud for sure knows I'm here, why else would he call?_

She sighed as she got up and grabbed her bag to pack.

Cloud seemed in well in thought for the whole morning, Marlene noticed this as she walked by him once again, just out of curiosity.

"When will you eat with us?" She asked sadly.

"Not now Marlene, I'm thinking about something," he waved his hand for her to go away.

But Marlene stayed put, "You can't sit around moaning all day about Tifa not being here," she looked worried as she forced Cloud to look at her, "she will come back, I know for sure."

Cloud nodded silently, "It's my fault... I upset her when I told her I am getting married to Aerith..."

Marlene nodded, she looked down at her toes, "It's not your fault though," she patted Cloud on the back, "she left because she wanted some time on her own..."

Cloud nodded slowly, "but still, I wish she would call me back, it seems every time I find the hotel she is at, she moves to another one because she doesn't want to be found, also, all the hotel workers tell me they cannot give out that information, but when I call back a day later, they tell me she has packed and left early..."

Marlene looked worriedly at Cloud, "just give her some time... I know you don't want to hear this, but, you really hurt her," Marlene saw pain in Cloud's eyes, "she loved you... and you were meant to get married..."

"I... I would never hurt Tifa, but I am afraid I cannot help it this time..."

_"Hey, why don't we make a promise? Umm, if you get really famous and I'm ever in a bind... You come save me, all right?"_

Cloud winced in pain at the thought of the memory... "I'm going to find her..." he said silently to himself, "whatever it takes"


	2. Zack?

Tifa sighed hard as she zipped her packed bag up, she turned around and grabbed the pictures off the bedside table and threw them into her last bag, and she took one more look around the room and then walked out.

"Leaving early, miss?" Asked the young looking man behind the counter.

Tifa nodded slowly.

"Ah, yes, I can hardly stand being away from home that long either," smiled the man.

Tifa frowned and didn't bother to say see wasn't going home, she just picked up her bags after making sure he had signed her out and paying, and left.

"Cloud?"

The sound of Aerith's voice rang through the house.

"Cloud are you home?"

"I'm upstairs," he called.

Aerith nodded to herself and slowly made her way up the stairs, "Cloud, I was thinking, ppick flowers for the-" she stopped herself from talking when she saw Cloud packing, "Cloud, what on earth are you doing?"

"I'm going on a search, Aerith," Cloud didn't look at her as he threw some more clothes into his sack.

Aerith nodded as she walked up to him and put her arms around him, "for Tifa, correct?"

Cloud nodded slowly as he turned to face her, "I need to find her Aerith."

Aerith nodded with no further questions, "then go."

Cloud looked up into her light green eyes, "I won't be long..."

Aerith smiled sadly, "Take as long as you need, Cloud, I just want you to be home in time for our wedding..."

Cloud smiled faintly, his mind still deep in thought, "alright, I promise..."

Tifa had chosen a hotel a few miles away from the last, though it was not very big, it had a beautiful over few of a lake, that had a long fishing dock on it. It was beautiful and peaceful, and not all that far away from the town of Gongaga. Though she felt warm inside just being there, she felt a strange panic inside her chest that didn't seem to go away...

"I'm going to look in Gongaga first." Cloud informed Aerith as he finally did his sack up, "that was the last place she stayed."

Aerith nodded, "I just that would make sense, more likely to find her there."

Cloud nodded, "the problem is, I don't know where to go from there, I suppose I could call all the nearby hotels, but she might find out and leave by the time I get there..."

"Hey," Aerith touched his shoulder softly, "everything will be fine... You'll find her, I know you will..."

Tifa looked down into the water at her reflection, her face pale and her eyes swollen from her tears, she turned her face up in distaste from the look of her.

"Look at what you've become..." She whispered softly to herself.

She felt a small tickling droplet of a tear roll down her cheek, she wiped it away with her left, mad at herself for crying again, as she went to put a hand down, she saw the sprinkle of her diamond engagement ring, she ripped it off with anger and leaned as far over the dock as she could and dropped it into the lake watching the ripples of the wave effect.

"Well that wasn't bright."

Startled Tifa fell forward almost falling into the lake, but she felt two arms tug her body back up onto the dock, she spun around to see who had spoken, but stopped right away, her eyes widened, "Zack?"


	3. Bodyguard

**authors**** note: before you guys attack me, I'm going to tell you what happened to Zack later, okay? Oh and sorry about this chapter being so short )**

Zack laughed a little at the expression on Tifa's face "what no 'I'm so glad to see you'?"

Tifa shook her head a little in shock, her face turned a bit red, "I... I thought you were dead..."

Zack stepped back a little and laughed, "I love me a warm welcome from Tifa Lockhart."

Tifa looked down, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to be rude."

"Hey it's fine," he gripped her shoulder gently, "I'd probably say the same thing if I were you."

Tifa winced a bit when he touched her; her face was still red from stock, but she looked up at him to study his face, he didn't look much different from the last time she had saw him, his hair was a bit longer and his face seemed to look older, but other than that nothing.

As though he knew what she was thinking, he announced out load, "you look much more different than the last time I saw you."

Tifa looked down at herself, "really?"

He nodded and grinned, "I think you've gained some weight."

Tifa looked a bit taken back and insulted by this.

He laughed at her expression, "I'm kidding, you haven't changed all that much, you are defiantly still gorgeous," he said this as though it was the most casual thing in the world, which made Tifa's face glow a bright pink.

He noticed her discomfort and changed the subject, "where's Cloud, are you here on your own?"

Tifa nodded sadly, "just me, myself, and I."

"What's a girl like you doing in the middle of no-whereas all alone, you could get hurt you know," he smirked a bit as he said this, "that's why I'm going to have to be your bodyguard."

Tifa looked at him, both amused and puzzled, "my bodyguard?"

He straighten up a bit and put a cheap grin on, "yep, keeping you safe from all those weirdos out there!"

Tifa laughed, "then who will protect me from you?"

Zack looked confused, "What a minute... Hey!"

Tifa giggled, "I kidding you."

Zack scratched the back of his neck and put on a famous grin, "Maybe I should of let you fall into that lake."

"I'm sorry to tell you sir, but she left early this morning," the man b

Hind the counter informed Cloud.

Cloud frowned, another escape from Tifa, "did she say anything about where she might be headed off to next, or the reason she left early?"

The man shook his head, "No, sorry sir."

Cloud sighed and turned away, he knew it wasn't going to be that easy to find Tifa anyways, he just needed to know where to go from there.


End file.
